Egypt held an opening session of parliament Sunday, the chamber's first session in more than three years.

The assembly has 15 days to ratify hundreds of executive decrees issued by President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, or the laws will be repealed.

Egypt has not had a parliament since 2012 when a court dissolved the democratically elected legislature that had been dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood of the country's former president Mohamed Morsi.

Sissi, the former head of Egypt's armed forces, rose to power in 2014 after a military coup that toppled Morsi, led to his eventual arrest and outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood.

Turnout for last year's parliamentary elections was low and most of those elected support Sissi and his secular agenda.

FILE - Egyptians wait to cast their votes outside a polling station during the Egyptian parliamentary election in Alexandria, Egypt, Oct. 18, 2015.

The new parliament is the first elected since adoption in 2014 of a new constitution that empowers lawmakers to impeach a president or call for early elections.